How the experiences and views of the women, children and young
people were included in organisations' consultation responses

Q26. In responding to this consultation, how are you
drawing on the experiences and views of the women, children and
young people who access your organisation?

Respondents were asked how they had drawn on the experience and
views of the women, children and young people who access their
organisation in their consultation response. By far the most common
response was to say that their response was based on their
expertise in the field and reflected the views of those they worked
with, which included service users, service providers, workers and
partnership organisations (39). Others had used research,
evaluation, case studies, information on evidence based practice,
and professional learning to inform their answers (11). A small
number of respondents, who were all trade union/representative
bodies for professionals, mentioned that the work of their
equalities committee had informed their response, and one
respondent said that the person completing the consultation had
received training on gender equality and violence against women
(see
table A17 in Annex 1).

A number of respondents said that their direct experience of
working with women and children on a daily basis, and what the
women and children told them, informed their response to the
consultation. Some organisations stated that they did not have
capacity to do engagement work with women and children around this
consultation, however they had a wealth of knowledge based on their
front line experience of working with women and children. Some
organisations said that regular feedback from clients and workers
informed the development of their services and that the views of
users was being taken into account on an ongoing basis.

Organisations who did not offer front line services, tended to
say that feedback from partners and organisations who did provide
such services was fed into their response.

Some examples of how the voices of women and children influenced
organisations' consultation responses are given below.

"Our response is informed by our experience of working with
women survivors of gender based violence, based on the issues they
raise with us and the feedback they provide and by partnership
working with other agencies working in this field."

- Third Sector

"In responding to this consultation, we held a discussion
session for [our] members. They were able to draw on the
experiences, stories and views of the women, children and young
people that they are working with (and have worked with in the
past). Staff were able to share anonymised examples of where women,
children and young people are currently being failed and where
actions could be undertaken to help address some of the
issues."

- Third Sector

"Our policy positions are informed by
LGBT young people through consultation, direct
service delivery, and research. After initial research with
LGBT young people, we consulted with them on
their policy priorities for the current government to create our
current manifesto: Improving the Lives of
LGBTI Young People in Scotland:
LGBT Youth Scotland's Manifesto 2016-2021."

- Third Sector

"[Our organisation] draws on the expertise and experience of
staff working directly with individuals affected by violence
against women. Regular service-user feedback and involvement
ensures that our services and staff are always informed by the
needs and views of service-users."

- Third Sector

"[Our organisation] has established an advisory panel, made up
of people who have personal experiences of domestic abuse who meet
regularly to provide focused and specialist input to our strategy
and development."

- Third Sector

Some respondents used research, either that they had carried out
themselves, or published research to inform their response.
Research, including evaluations, and case studies, evidence based
practice, including international best practice and professional
learning fed into some responses. In some cases a combination of
lived experience and more formal research were presented together
within consultation responses.

"Additionally we have drawn on our annual Girls' Attitudes
Survey which collects the views of girls across the
UK aged 7-21 who are both
members and non-members."

– Third Sector

"Our large hate crime project was developed with self-advocacy
organisations, disabled people's organisations and people with
learning disabilities themselves. We have generated evidence in
participation with people with learning disabilities."

- Academic/research

"We have also based our consultation response on
SCLD publications and a range of existing
evidence and research."

- Third Sector

"In responding to this consultation have drawn on evaluations of
the specific services we have funded which support women, children
and young people survivors of domestic abuse. These evaluations
draw on the lived experience of Women, Children, Young People and
families."

- Third Sector

"We have also drawn on evidence based best practice from
national and international sources."